Within the throes of disappointment, some wish to blame Dave Van Horn for the Arkansas Razorbacks’ loss to Ole Miss that eradicated the Hogs from the School World Sequence.
It was not his fault.
He had no errors or strikeouts. He didn’t stroll a batter or hand over a house run.
He coached his crew similar to he has in 796 different wins because the Razorbacks’ head coach.
Similar to he has when he led the Hogs to 3 of the previous 4 School World Sequence (there was no CWS throughout 2020 due to covid-19).
On Thursday, Ole Miss was the higher crew.
Not by quite a bit, 2-0, however Rebels pitcher Dylan DeLucia regarded just like the second coming of Justin Verlander.
The junior pitched your complete recreation, scattered 4 hits and walked none.
He had seven strikeouts.
DeLucia used an array of pitches to maintain the Razorbacks off stability on the plate.
That’s why there have been so many referred to as third strikes as a substitute of the Hogs happening swinging.
The sport lasted simply 2:06 due to the effectivity of each pitchers.
DeLucia wasn’t excellent, however he was shut sufficient for the Rebels to advance to the championship sequence that started Saturday towards Oklahoma.
Van Horn was gracious in his feedback after the sport.
He and Ole Miss Coach Mike Bianco have a mutual respect for one another.
Bianco bought some warmth this season when his Rebels went flatter than a New Mexico tortilla.
Penciled in for the School World Sequence in preseason, at one time they regarded like they have been fortunate to be within the SEC Event — the place they finally performed one recreation, a loss to Vanderbilt.
They have been 14-16 in SEC play.
However they’re 8-1 because the NCAA Event started, the one loss coming on the bats of the Razorbacks.
Arkansas closed the common season shedding 4 out of six and the whispers of discontent by some followers turned grumbles, totally on social media.
Van Horn addressed it, saying it was from most likely about 10% of the fan base.
It’s most likely extra like 3%, however he wouldn’t have addressed it if it didn’t hassle him, and it ought to have.
Van Horn suits the Razorbacks.
He’s aggressive. He’s a terrific recruiter. He loves the Hogs and helps each sport.
The Razorbacks are in a terrific place proper now, and much from the place they have been simply three years in the past when the basketball crew was slightly above common and the soccer crew was the worst in trendy historical past.
This season, Sam Pittman led the soccer crew to a New Yr’s Day win. Eric Musselman took the Razorbacks to their second consecutive NCAA Event Elite Eight. Courtney Deifel coached the softball crew to an excellent regional.
In these harsh days, observe and discipline and baseball have been constantly good.
Nonetheless are.
This baseball crew completed the season 46-21.
Throw out the covid cancelled season and Van Horn has gained 45 video games or extra the previous 5 seasons.
His solely shedding season at Arkansas got here after a visit to the World Sequence.
He’s led the Hogs to seven journeys to Omaha, Neb.
The query for these few critics: Who would you rent that it’s higher?
Van Horn didn’t let any disappointment present throughout or after the loss to Ole Miss.
He was supportive of his gamers.
“I’m not going to cry if you end your season in Omaha,” he mentioned.
This season began with 299 baseball groups and solely eight made it to the School World Sequence, the place storied packages like Texas and Stanford went 0-2.
The 2022 baseball season was an enormous success for Dave Van Horn and the Arkansas Razorbacks, and most probably when the speedy disappointment of the ultimate loss diminishes, so will the expectations of some.
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The first availability report for Arkansas basketball’s (11-3, 0-1 SEC) matchup against the No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels (12-2, 1-0 SEC) was released by the Southeastern Conference on Tuesday.
Introduced over the offseason, availability reports will be filed one day before contests, with an additional update on game day.
According to the SEC, student-athletes will be designated as “available”, “probable”, “doubtful” or “out” for their next game. For additional clarity on game day, student-athletes will be designated as “available”, “game time decision” or “out.”
Below is the first availability report of the week ahead of Arkansas’ game against Ole Miss, which will tip off at 6 p.m. CT at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville:
The Arkansas Razorbacks (11-3, 0-1 SEC) can bounce back if they defeat the No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels (12-2, 1-0 SEC) on Wednesday at Bud Walton Arena.
Led by second-year head coach Chris Beard, the Rebels are off to a solid start to the 2024-25 season. Ole Miss owns wins over teams such as BYU, Purdue, Louisville, Georgia and others with a veteran-filled squad. Ole Miss is coming off a 20-12 (7-11 SEC) overall season that saw it miss the NCAA Tournament.
“Ole Miss is one of those teams that is really tough,” associate head coach Chin Coleman said Tuesday. “They recruit to their system. Another game in which we’re going to have to be more physical than them. We’re going to have to obviously do a better job on the offensive glass. They’re systemic in terms of their motion and everybody is a weapon. They can go one-on-one from one through five. So they have a balanced attack in terms of their offense because of their style of play.
“So it’s going to be a challenge for us. But for me and for us as a staff and our team, no matter whether you win or you lose it’s always about our response. So I’m excited about our response. I was excited about our response in our first possession of practice. I’m equally excited for our first possession of practice today and so on and so forth. Just a challenge. Another challenge. We’ve got to be more prepared for this one than we were the last time out.”
A major storyline entering this game is the chess-move battle between John Calipari and Beard, who was reportedly one of Arkansas’ top head coach candidates to replace Eric Musselman during the offseason.
“(Beard’s) been running that motion since Texas Tech,” Coleman said. “Probably got a little bit of that from the late great Bobby Knight. That motion is unpredictable. The freedom of movement, cutting, screening. It’s hard to scheme against. It’s hard to scout. It’s hard to put a scout team through that. There is no absolute. When you have a random based offense that you’ve got to guard the whole game, you’ve got to trust your rules. You’ve got to be connected.
“You can’t break. You’ve got to be alert. You’ve got to know you are going to be screened, but at the same time you’ve got to watch the ball because here comes a guy driving. They’ve got playmakers all over the floor with one through five. Their fives are like fours. Their fours are like threes. When you have multiple guys on the floor that can dribble, pass and shoot, it’s tough to defend against.”
After a non-conference schedule filled with middling crowds, Coleman said he’s ready for Arkansas fans to unleash Bud Walton Arena into its full form for the SEC home opener.
“We need the fans to support the Razorbacks the way that they’ve supported them, what we’ve seen when we were with the opposing team,” Coleman said. “Now we’re family. We’re Razorbacks. We wanted it to feel the way it’s felt when we’ve come in here as an opposer, as the enemy. We need the building rocking. We need the building turned all the way up to help our men feed off that energy.
“I’ve seen it before. I’ve witnessed it before, where you can’t even call out… I’m normally one of the loudest persons in the building on the sidelines. Our guys hear me when I scream out different calls and when I scream out different schematics. Everybody hears me. I have been in this building before where I have not been heard, so that is what I need for that building, and what we need for that building to feel like.”
Here’s a closer comparison of Arkansas’ and Ole Miss’ stats, efficiency ratings, projected lineup for the Rebels and more ahead of Wednesday’s game, which is set to tipoff at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2:
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